mcjDropToTerrain - mcjDropToTerrain2 - Daz Scripts drop objects to terrain

mCasual

so here you see the Bobverse island, and 64 trees which were randomly duplicated using the Send-In-The-Clones script by draagonstorm

draagonstorm posted on ShareCG ( i think ) a script that uses ( after asking me ) my old mcjCollider plugin to drop the clones to a terrain

but since that solution doesnt work for MAC users, i'll write a script.

As long as the terrain is, say, under 60000 polygons, the slowness of this script should not be too painfull

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if it works or doesn't work for you, please leave a short comment below

https://sites.google.com/site/mcasualsdazscripts5/mcjdroptoterrain

and if you dont seem to be able to download the zip package from that page

then here's a direct link to the zip file

i cant be sure this link will remain valid forever tho

https://sites.google.com/site/mcasualsdazscripts5/mcjdroptoterrain/mcjdroptoterrain.zip?attredirects=0&d=1

We Present mcjDropToTerrain2 (2022)

i worked in collaboration with TugPSX for this Upgrade

mCasual

first test results

5.8 seconds to drop 10 trees on a 12000 facets terrain

( with the mcjCollider plugin it would probably be 100 times faster but hey )

second test results

50 seconds to drop 64 trees on a 12000 facets terrain

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i will improve the "planting" depth control and precision

mCasual

here you can see there will be a "planting depth" parameter

in this case the origin of the tree is placed 40 cm below terrain level

the trunk diameter is about 40 cm

mCasual

unfortunately clones of imported .obj nodes, seem to have the same node names and the same material names, which causes mcjTeleBlender to "gamma-fix" the material 64 times, making the green trees pitch-black
so i had to turn off GammaFix in mcjTeleBlender to render this
( i thought that the "rename nodes" option took care of this but apparently not always )

mCasual

expected release is Saturday Jan. 17th

it will work like this:

- select all the nodes meant to be dropped-to-terrain ( the trees )
- also select the terrain node(s)
- start the script
- from the list of nodes, select the ones that are terrain nodes
- specify how deep to plant the trees
- press the doit button

rksrks100

Thanks again for all this work Casual. It's really appreciated. Looking forward to testing out the script on Sunday :) But no pressure...enjoy your weekend !

DraagonStorm

Thank you Casual :)

Kerya

Looks wonderful!

mCasual

the user interface

still on-track to post the script today
at least the DS4.5+ version

the version for DS 1, 2, 3 will follow
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in this case you could also drop boats to the water-plane
since it's 1 of the 2 "terrain" objects

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and i realized just now, it means i have to give options related to how thorough the ray-collision search must be

meaning, if i hit the water plane, it's not a good reason to place the tree on the water plane
i have to go through the mountain/terrain facets that may be higher

mCasual

looks like the version for DS4.X is ready ! yay
( 4.5 and up )

if it works or doesn't work for you, please leave a short comment below

preferably download it from the bottom of this web page
by clicking on the blue down-arrow thumbnail/link

https://sites.google.com/site/mcasualsdazscripts5/mcjdroptoterrain

and if you dont seem to be able to download the zip package from that page

then here's a direct link to the zip file

i cant be sure this link will remain valid forever tho

https://sites.google.com/site/mcasualsdazscripts5/mcjdroptoterrain/mcjdroptoterrain.zip?attredirects=0&d=1

rksrks100

HI Casual,
Just to let you know, my initial tests to use the script in DS4.6 have been successful. Can't thank you enough for providing this ! Just for your information, the icon that is appearing in the menu section indicates DS1, DS2 even though the script is working fine thus far in DS4.6.

mCasual

rksrks100 said:

HI Casual,
Just to let you know, my initial tests to use the script in DS4.6 have been successful. Can't thank you enough for providing this ! Just for your information, the icon that is appearing in the menu section indicates DS1, DS2 even though the script is working fine thus far in DS4.6.

Thanks !

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* Update * Update * Update * Update * Update * Update * Update * Update * Update * Update *

the icon/thumbnail image has been corrected
it reflects the fact that this is the version for DS4.5 and up

preferred way to download the install package :bottom of this page
https://sites.google.com/site/mcasualsdazscripts5/mcjdroptoterrain

direct link to the zip file - not guaranteed to remain valid - version for DS4.5 and up only
https://sites.google.com/site/mcasualsdazscripts5/mcjdroptoterrain/mcjdroptoterrain.zip?attredirects=0&d=1

the other versions for DS1,DS2 amd DS3 may come out today

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Note: this script is meant to drop down objects and figures onto 1 or more objects,
later this spring i'll probably have a more universal script closer to what mcjCollider does

mCasual

presently writing/testing the Daz Studio 1, 2, 3 version of the script

also note that i will most probably post a bug-fixed version of the DS 4.7 version

( because it presently functions in a fast but imprecise mode )

Design Anvil - Razor42

Awesome, you just ticked off a major feature request for me. Thankyou!!!

I didn't have any issues running the script on my Mac running OSX10.7.2 & Daz 4.7.0.12.

The script loaded fine for the trees both above or below the selected ground terrain.
I used trees of varying sizes and locations in two lots, the tree mesh is quite high poly to.

First lot of 32 trees took 4mins 12
Second lot of 16 trees took 3 mins

Here is a quick render of the result.

mCasual

* ****** * ****** * ****** * ****** * ****** * ****** * ****** * ****** *
* update * update * update * update * update * update * update * update * update *
* ****** * ****** * ****** * ****** * ****** * ****** * ****** * ****** *

January18th 2015 9:30 PM - the ds4 version was fixed to prevent the "fast" mode which was fast but prone to errors
January18th 2015 9:18 PM - now a version for DS1/DS2 and one for DS3

in case you're interested
the fast mode
which, for now, can only be enabled by manually changing the 'bFast' variable ( so this is for coders )
will stop as fast as possible to search for the surface of the terrain
so if your terrain is a water plane partly covered by a mountainous terrain
and the script "hits" the water surface, the tree will be placed there
the script wont look any further

mCasual

Razor 42 said:

Awesome, you just ticked off a major feature request for me. Thankyou!!!

I didn't have any issues running the script on my Mac running OSX10.7.2 & Daz 4.7.0.12.

The script loaded fine for the trees both above or below the selected ground terrain.
I used trees of varying sizes and locations in two lots, the tree mesh is quite high poly to.

First lot of 32 trees took 4mins 12
Second lot of 16 trees took 3 mins

Here is a quick render of the result.

yay!

next spring, maybe before that i will add something to the script to accelerate this greatly
(called a Bounding volume hierarchy ) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bounding_volume_hierarchy
and make this "collision detection" tool more versatile

barbult

It isn't working for me. Even though I selected 0.0 depth, it is dropping all items below the surface. I first tried with a landscape ground prop that had rolling hills. When that didn't work as I expected, (i.e. dropped below ground), I tried a flat terrain. It still dropped below ground.

I downloaded it today. The version I have is mcjDropToTerrain.dsa dated January 18, 2015. I am running DS 4.7.0.12 on Windows 7 64 bit.

mCasual

barbult said:

It isn't working for me. Even though I selected 0.0 depth, it is dropping all items below the surface. I first tried with a landscape ground prop that had rolling hills. When that didn't work as I expected, (i.e. dropped below ground), I tried a flat terrain. It still dropped below ground.

I downloaded it today. The version I have is mcjDropToTerrain.dsa dated January 18, 2015. I am running DS 4.7.0.12 on Windows 7 64 bit.

the script drops the origin of tree to the ground
not the lowest point of the tree, unless they are at the same location

the origin of the object is where you see the red/green/blue arrows

there's many ways to compensate

1 - say your tree is 300 cm tall and the origin of the tree is midway, at 150 cm
then tell mcjDropToTerrain to use an offset of -150 ( minus 150 cm )

2 - create a null node, place it at the base of the tree, parent the tree to the null, drop the null-node to the terrain instead of the tree

3 - use a script that can change the location of the tree's origin, and move the origin to the base of the tree

DeltaX15's MoveOrigin script

mcjChangeOrientation

4 - move the tree to Y=0 level, export it as an obj, delete the tree, import the obj tree

5 - Go in Daz Studio / Tools / Joint Editor, move the origin to the bottom of the tree

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Note that i will probably post very soon a revised version of the script that, as an option, does drop the bottom of selected objects to the ground

MilosGulan

I am waiting for it then and will have to try to see how it works.

barbult

Thanks for the explanation and workarounds. The new version sounds like it will solve my problem perfectly. I'll watch for it.

mCasual

Hey Long Time No See ! 2015

We Present mcjDropToTerrain2 (2022)

i worked in collaboration with TugPSX for this Upgrade

https://sites.google.com/site/mcasualsdazscripts5/mcjdroptoterrain

 

mCasual

dropped some balls on this 'terrain' with and without the terrain being in hi-res subDivisions ( excellent song by RUSH )

Faeryl Womyn

This is great, never got a chance to use the original, though plan on giving it a go this time around. Now to find the other scripts I need to reinstall on a new computer lol

nakamuram002

mCausal:

What are the differences between mcjDropToTerrain, mcjPlaceUnder, and mcjDropToTop?  They seem to perform the same function. 

mCasual

the 2 others only see the bounding boxes of the terrain and dropping objects

mcjDropToTerrain finds the one facet among the thousands of terrain facets that lies right under the falling object and it moves the dropped object(s)  onto that facet

with  mcjDropToTerrain2 you can also make the dropped object sink deeper in the terrain

 

nakamuram002 said:

mCausal:

What are the differences between mcjDropToTerrain, mcjPlaceUnder, and mcjDropToTop?  They seem to perform the same function. 

khorneV2

awesome and very usefull as usual 

nakamuram002

mCasual said:

the 2 others only see the bounding boxes of the terrain and dropping objects

mcjDropToTerrain finds the one facet among the thousands of terrain facets that lies right under the falling object and it moves the dropped object(s)  onto that facet

with  mcjDropToTerrain2 you can also make the dropped object sink deeper in the terrain

 

nakamuram002 said:

mCausal:

What are the differences between mcjDropToTerrain, mcjPlaceUnder, and mcjDropToTop?  They seem to perform the same function. 

Thanks mCasual!!  That is what I needed to know.